


trust

by mkjsoo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Medical, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-05 21:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20280379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkjsoo/pseuds/mkjsoo
Summary: Do Kyungsoo is a cardiothoracic surgeon who hides things to himself. Kim Jongin is a new neurosurgeon who wants to save everyone. When the two cross paths, everything seemed to fall.





	trust

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know anything about hospitals but I did try and research a lot to make it as realistic as possible. This is going to be a chaptered fic! I’m planning like crazy for this and I’m excited to see where this goes hehe. 
> 
> Disclaimer: This is heavily inspired by japanese dramas (Dr. Stock, Code Blue, Last Hope, etc.) Some scenes/dialogue are influenced by the dramas. I don’t intend on copying word for word of the dramas. There may be some medical terms that are used in both the drama and this work. There may be changed in tags as the fic goes on. Also, I forgot to add, there will be blood, needles, and death written in this fic. If you don't like any of those, I suggest you not to read it.

Sowon Medical Center was known for its excellence. From pediatricians to neurosurgeons, it has it all. Those doors, however, was not just an entrance to the best hospital in Seoul. It was an entrance to the hardships, love, anguish, and trust doctors and patients had to face every day. Though the hospital seemed perfect from the outside, there was a different story behind those doors.

-

“The cherry blossoms look pretty this year,” The little girl looked at the pictures on her tablet. Kyungsoo hummed. “I’ve always wondered what they smell like. Do you know, Doctor Do?”

“They have an intense bittersweet smell.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant at all.” She stuck her tongue out in disgust. “Why do people go flower viewing if they smell bad?”

He pulled open the curtains to let the natural light warm up the room. “You see, cherry blossoms represent the fragility and beauty of life. People go to admire the beauty of the flower, but also to think about their life.” He walked over to her bed, placing a cherry blossom origami in her hand. “It also signals the beginning of spring, a time of renewal and optimism. People start thinking about the endless possibilities of their future with all the hopes and new dreams that come along with the season.”

“Doctor Do, is my future filled with possibilities?” The girl held up the origami. He saw a gleam in her eyes.

“Yes,” he answered with a hint of sadness in his voice. “The nurse is going to come in later to give you your daily medicine, okay? Be a good girl like you’ve always been.” She nodded. He ruffled her hair and left the room.

-

The doctor finished his round of check-ups, going directly to his office to check on his patients who required close monitoring. He flipped through the medical records and stopped on one of his patients, Yeong Sunwoo. The name reminded him of the surgery. It sent him chills.

“Kyungsoooooo,” Junmyeon sat right next to him and wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “It’s been too long, let’s go drinking!”

“I’ll pass,” Kyungsoo replied without looking up from Sunwoo’s medical record.

Junmyeon pouted. His eyes caught the medical records Kyungsoo was holding. “But Kyungsoooo, you can leave it t-”

“Junmyeon,” Sehun interrupted. He shook his head. Junmyeon dropped the topic.

Sehun placed his hand on his shoulder. Kyungsoo looked up at him. Something he does to show Sehun had his attention.

“Don’t forget about the meeting Director Yoon told us about,” He reminded. Kyungsoo gave him a small nod and his attention went back to the papers.

Kyungsoo rubbed his eyes, it hurt to read tiny words for an hour. His friends warned him about it, but he paid no attention. He had to be careful, he couldn’t let the same thing happen again. The fear of it happening fed onto his anxiety. He decided to take a break, leaving the room. Sehun looked up, alarmed.

“Where are you going?”

“Coffee break.” He replied, continuing to walk without greeting any of the other medical personnel who passed by. There was no need for ignoring, it was not a secret most found him intimidating. He saw Jongdae buying a can of coffee. Jongdae looked over and waved with a smile. He sat on a bench situated across the vending machine.

“Coffee break?” Kyungsoo pressed a button for his favorite coffee.

“Yeah, my energy level needs to be the same if not more than the excited couples,” Jongdae smiled. Kyungsoo hummed. Jongdae motioned him to sit down next to him. They basked in silence while they sipped on their coffee.

Kyungsoo broke the silence with a soft, “Dae.” Jongdae almost choked on his coffee. Kyungsoo never used that nickname after the surgery.

Jongdae cleared his throat. “What’s up, Soo?”

“A patient of mine needs the same transplant. I-I don’t know if I can take in the patient,” Kyungsoo gripped his can. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Jongdae rested his back against the wall. “Hey, remember those words you told me before that surgery? Kyungsoo, you’re one of the most talented doctors and-” His words were interrupted by the ringing of their phones, alarming both of them. They picked up and on the other end were two angry people asking why they weren’t at the meeting. They both looked at the time, realizing that they had 5 minutes before it began.

“Oh, fuck,” Jongdae whispered. They ran as fast as they could, apologizing every time they were close to hitting someone or something. They didn’t want to feel the wrath of the director in front of all the nurses and doctors.

-

They reached the board room with a minute to spare. They found their assigned seats and tried to hide their heavy breathing.

“I know you were on the other side of the hospital, how did you and Kyungsoo get here so fast?” Minseok asked.

“We,” he took deep breaths to slow down his heart rate. “We don’t even know how.” He panted. Minseok shrugged and sat up straight when Director Yoon came out.

Director Yoon went over the hospital agenda and told everyone the usual please take care of your health, it is still very cold. He continued to talk about other not-so-important things but Kyungsoo watched the interns take note of every single word he said. Kyungsoo looked around and saw Baekhyun dozing off, Chanyeol doodling, Sehun sneaking quick peeks of his phone, and Minseok and Jongdae bickering as usual. He wasn’t surprised to not see Yixing at the meeting; he’s a busy man, taking over their EMT department while his boss was visiting another hospital. Oddly, he doesn’t see Junmyeon. He planned on asking Sehun about that later.

“And now, for the final announcement. As many of you may know, our neurosurgeon recently left to study abroad.” Kyungsoo frowned. He missed Insung but he was happy that his sunbae decided to step out of his comfort zone and expand his knowledge to reach his goal: saving those who were thought to be impossible to save. “It was difficult to choose between the many candidates that applied, but I was able to pick the best of the best! Please welcome our new neurosurgeon, Kim Jongin!” Kyungsoo has heard that name before, but he couldn’t remember where. He stopped thinking about it, deeming it unimportant right now. The man walked out, and everyone clapped for the new doctor. None of them expected a handsome young man to walk out.

“Hello, I’m Doctor Kim. Nice to meet you all.” He smiled. Kyungsoo swore he heard some of the nurses squeal.

“Everyone treat him nicely and don’t scare him away. This is the conclusion of the meeting, thank you very much for attending.” He bowed.

The moment Director Yoon ended the meeting, the majority of the doctors and nurses ran over and introduced themselves to Jongin. Kyungsoo left the meeting, he had no interest in meeting the new neurosurgeon. He wanted to check on his critical patients. He was too into his thoughts, he didn’t hear Baekhyun calling his name.

“Yah! Do you want me to get a heart attack? I had to sprint to catch up to you, damn you’re so fast at walking!” Baekhyun grabbed his shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah? Thanks for ignoring me,” Baekhyun wiped an imaginary tear. “Anyways, that neurosurgeon? He’s so hot! He has the brains and the looks, I wonder if he’s taken?”

“Baekhyun, I thought you were dating Chanyeol.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. They stopped in front of the elevator and waited.

“Oh, I’m not wondering for me, it’s for you.” Kyungsoo coughed.

“I’m not interested or looking for anyone right now. If that’s what you want to talk about, go back to your office.”

“Soo, come on! It’s a perfect opportunity, he seems exactly like your type!” The elevator door opened and they stepped inside. Kyungsoo pressed the 5th floor. Baekhyun didn’t press any button so he figured he was going to follow him into his office. Kyungsoo sighed.

“I’ve never told you my type. Please get off on your floor.”

“Wait!” They hear a voice and Kyungsoo pressed the open button. Jongin ran into the elevator and collapsed. Both of the doctors were shocked.

“Uh, are you okay?” Baekhyun asked. He bent down to make sure Jongin was breathing properly.

“Yeah, uh, I just got lost and was also trying to run away from the crowd. This hospital is so massive and I didn’t know which way the elevator was. Do any of you happen to know what floor the surgical intensive unit is?” Jongin asked while getting up. Something lit up in Baekhyun’s mind and he smiled.

“We have two,” Baekhyun answered. “Which one are you assigned to?”

“The Neurosurgical one.”

“Oh! That would be the 5th floor! And this doctor basically lives on that floor.” Baekhyun pushed Kyungsoo forward. Kyungsoo glared at him. Baekhyun connected the dots before he could. “You should show him around!” Baekhyun smiled.

“Oh, it would be really nice to get a tour.” Jongin sheepishly smiled.

Kyungsoo continued his glare at Baekhyun. “I think this doctor should since he’s following me to the same floor.” Kyungsoo punched Baekhyun.

“Oh but I’m a pediatrician, so I’m on the 4th floor. Which is this one! See ya later!” He waved before leaving the elevator. Kyungsoo wondered when he pressed the 4th floor.

“So, uhm.” He forgot he was left in there with Jongin. The elevator door opened.

“Follow me for a quick tour.” Kyungsoo got off the elevator and Jongin followed. He quickly explained everything on the fifth floor but with detail to avoid complications in the future. He needed to know how his patients were doing to let the worry within him subdue. He knew one of the nurses would call him if there was ever a problem but the gnawing doubts were eating him up. He tried his best to hide it, but Jongin sensed something was off. Jongin didn’t question Kyungsoo though, he didn’t know him well enough. Kyungsoo turned around, “Any questions?”

“No. Uh, thank you for the tour, Doctor…?”

“Do, Do Kyungsoo. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going now.” He bowed.

Kyungsoo rushed back to the front desk of the floor and asked the nurse how his patients were doing. The nurse reported that there was no abnormality during each patient’s checkup. He sighed in relief and thanked the nurse. He walked back to his office and slumped against the sofa. He didn’t notice Sehun in the office, who reached over Kyungsoo’s shoulder from behind and started massaging him. Kyungsoo lolled his head, he needed the massage.

“I heard you gave the newbie a tour of our floor. Kyungsoo, my god, you’re so tense!” Sehun tried to get a knot out of his back. Kyungsoo winced in pain.

“Yeah, I had no choice. Baekhyun forced me into it. Hey, where’s Junmyeon by the way? I didn’t see him during the meeting.” He turned to Sehun, who pressed into his pressure point. Kyungsoo glared.

“I sent him home. He was on medication for his cold and he wasn’t thinking straight. He took 3 times the dosage he was supposed to. He’s so stupid sometimes,” he sighed. “Hey, don’t change the topic. What do you think?”

Kyungsoo knew what he was asking but he didn’t want to talk about it. “What do you mean?”

“I know he’s your type. What do you think of him?” Sehun finished his massage and sat next to Kyungsoo. He laid his head on his shoulder.

Kyungsoo wanted to avoid the topic but he knew Sehun would pester him about it until he answered. The worst thing was Sehun knew too much about him, so any lie would’ve been noticed by the younger. Too many drunk adventures he regretted.

“He’s attractive, yes, but it’s the personality that matters most.” He answered.

Sehun scoffed, “Now I know that’s a lie. Should we walk through memory lane an-”

“There’s no need, thank you very much.” He interrupted. He got up to walk over to his desk. Sehun pouted. Kyungsoo’s phone was pinging nonstop. He looked at his phone and sighed.

“Sehunnie, you should probably go home and cuddle your boyfriend, he’s messaging me and it’s annoying.” He showed Sehun the messages Junmyeon kept sending him. Sehun was caught off guard by the nickname. He hasn’t heard Kyungsoo call him that in a while. “Sehunnie?” Kyungsoo slightly tilted his head.

Sehun got up and grumbled, “He’s so needy when he’s sick.” He left.

“I know you’re whipped for Junmyeon,” Kyungsoo replied, his eyes never leaving his laptop.

Sehun popped his head into the office, “I can hear you, Kyungie. Shut up. Don’t act cute and then make fun of me.” He glared and left. Kyungsoo smiled.

-

Jongin blended well with everyone in the hospital in the past few months. Jongin introduced himself to the patients he was in charge of and they were smitten with him. He was charming and his bubbly personality made patients enjoy staying at the hospital. Whenever they were around Jongin, they didn’t feel like they were stuck in a hospital. All of Kyungsoo’s friends said he’s fun to be around and he would become really good friends with Kyungsoo, if not more with a wink from Baekhyun and Sehun, much to his annoyment. As much as Kyungsoo wanted some time to get to know the younger, he never had the time. Sehun mentioned he was a really good surgeon, maybe even better than Kyungsoo, to which he scoffed.

He checked the time on his watch. _15:00, it’s almost time for that surgery_, he thought. He rushed over to the viewing room. The medical center had a room which included multiple monitors and mics set up for each operating room. Each operating room also had monitors and mics in case of an emergency. When he got to the room, they had already started the surgery. Chanyeol was the lead surgeon since Yixing specialized in plastic surgery. But Yixing was in charge of this patient, so he started the surgery.

“As expected, we can’t insert the shunt,” Yixing said. Right then, Jongin walked into the operating room. Kyungsoo was speechless. Jongin was the lead surgeon?

Junmyeon walked into the viewing room, “Surprised he’s the lead surgeon, huh?” Kyungsoo jumped.

“Don’t ever do that again,” he put his hand on his heart.

Junmyeon laughed but he frowned soon after. “Hunnie told me this surgery was risky. He’s only 11.” He shook his head. They both watched the monitor silently.

“Explain the situation, Doctor Zhang.” Jongin looked at the CT scans of the child’s brain.

“We want to shut off the left internal carotid artery but the posterior communicating arteries are underdeveloped.”

“Got it,” Jongin replied. Chanyeol walked in and nodded at Yixing.

“I keep forgetting Chanyeol is a neurosurgeon. And a talented one too. Wait, shouldn’t you be down there to help?” Junmyeon looked at Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo shook his head. “They’re the best neurosurgeons we have. They don’t need my help. A bypass huh?” Kyungsoo took his glasses off and sat down.

“Using the radial artery as a graft so there’s no interrupting blood flow to the brain before they repair the carotid artery.” Junmyeon crossed his arms and sat next to Kyungsoo, his eyes never leaving the monitor. “This is a difficult surgery.” Kyungsoo could only nod. One small mistake could cause a detrimental effect on the child. Kyungsoo knew how easy it was to make a mistake in this type of surgery, he stood in the operating room as a support surgeon once. They couldn’t save the patient. Kyungsoo shivered from the memory and looked back at the monitor.

“Harvesting the radial artery,” Jongin said.

“Same here. About to make an incision on the dura mater. Scalpel No. 15.” Chanyeol held out his hand.

“Here,” Sehun handed him the tool. “Strengthening the screw.”

“Would 10cm be enough?” Jongin asked, looking at Chanyeol for a brief second.

“More than enough.”

Kyungsoo looked at Junmyeon. “10cm for a graft? Isn’t that big?”

“The patient’s a kid, remember,” Junmyeon responded. Kyungsoo hummed.

“Trim the graft and place it here.” Jongin motioned.

“Do a fish mouth incision,” Chanyeol said.

“Releasing the clamp.” Chanyeol looked at Jongin. He nodded. Chanyeol released the clamp and dropped it on the tray. He looked closely at the successful bypass, “Not a single crease.”

“Should we verify it?” Sehun asked.

“There’s no need to. Alright, shutting off the internal carotid artery. Bulldog clamp.” Sehun already had it before Jongin requested it. Kyungsoo walked up to the monitor to watch closely.

“Bipolar,” Chanyeol said, holding out his hand. Sehun handed it to him with no hesitation.

Kyungsoo turned around to Junmyeon, “I never realized but Sehun’s an excellent operating room nurse.” Junmyeon smiled and nodded. He turned back to the monitor.

“Extracting.” Jongin slowly started taking out the skewer piercing through the child’s throat. Everyone was watching intensely. Kyungsoo held his hand in front of his mouth. Everybody in the operating room held their breath, scared that any noise would break Jongin’s concentration. It felt as if time slowed down. It was a slow process, but he was able to get it out.

Jongin looked into the wound to check for any complications, “It seems like there’s no bleeding coming from it.” The atmosphere in the operating room had changed, the tension had disappeared. Relief filled the room. “Shutting off the pseudoaneurysm. Chanyeol, assist me in suturing the internal carotid artery.”

“Got it,” Chanyeol answered.

“Prepare 6-0 nylon for me. I’ll leave the suturing to Yixing.” Jongin said, working swiftly. Yixing nodded.

Junmyeon stood up and clapped softly, “Hunnie was right, Kim Jongin is a talented surgeon.”

“He is.” Kyungsoo left the room. He walked toward the operating rooms to congratulate the two doctors when his phone rang. He picked up the phone. He sighed in relief. It was Baekhyun telling him to meet him in the cafeteria for lunch. He rolled his eyes and turned around to go to the cafeteria.

-

Kyungsoo filled out papers when he heard snickers and giggling from Junmyeon and Baekhyun in the corner. Recently, it happened a lot. Whenever one of his friends passed by Kyungsoo, they laughed and smiled. He was suspicious of what his friends were doing or planning on doing, nothing good came out of their plans. He was about to ask what was going on until his phone started ringing. He picked up and ran to the operating room, ready to save another patient’s life.

He completed the surgery with no complications. He dumped his gown into the bins and cleaned his hands. He left the surgery ward, stretching and heard cracks in his back. _I’m going to have terrible back pain_, he thought. He slowly walked back to his office, trying to fight off the sleep when he heard laughter from one of the rooms. He looked at the names, realizing they were Jongin’s patients. He snuck a peek in the room and saw Jongin in the middle of the room swaying to the voices of the 4 patients. Their voices harmonized well, Kyungsoo nodded along. Jongin looked up and caught Kyungsoo peeking. He became flustered, quietly closing the door and leaving. Jongin was fast enough to come out and grab his wrist, stopping him from going anywhere.

“Sorry for spying?” Kyungsoo looked up with embarrassment.

Jongin laughed, “I wasn’t going to yell at you for that. You’re welcome to join, those patients would love to hear you sing.” Kyungsoo was stunned. How did Jongin know about his singing? Only his friends knew. _Oh, wait a minute_, Kyungsoo connected the dots. _Baekhyun_.

“I don’t sing,” Kyungsoo blurted the first thing that came into his mind and ran off, missing the small frown on Jongin’s face.

-

Sehun pranced into the office and sat next to Kyungsoo who was on the couch. Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrowed. _Must be Yeong Sunwoo’s case_, he thought. And he was right, Kyungsoo was staring at Sunwoo’s medical records. Kyungsoo closed his laptop and laid his head on his lap, another action from Kyungsoo that surprised Sehun. Sehun started playing with his hair.

“Would Junmyeon be mad if he caught me like this?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Nah, he would be mad that you’re using my lap instead of his,” Sehun laughed. “By the way, I heard from a little birdie from the pediatric department that you rejected Jongin today.” Kyungsoo froze.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Doctor hottie asked you to sing and you rejected him. What were you thinking?” Junmyeon walked into the room. “Soo, why aren’t you cuddling on my lap?” He whined.

Kyungsoo got up. “So how does he know about that?” He glared at the two. They avoided Kyungsoo’s gaze.

“What are you talking about?” Junmyeon’s voice cracked.

“Myeonnie, pleaseeee can you tell meeee?” Kyungsoo tilted his head and pouted. He knew Junmyeon was weak to his cuteness, everyone was.

“Fine. We might have been feeding Jongin information about you.”

“We?”

“Jun, me, Baek, Chan, Dae, Xing, and Min.” Sehun counted.

“But why.”

“Because he asks for them? Okay well, kinda.” Kyungsoo gestured Junmyeon to continue. “It started with Baek spilling some details about you and then it just kind of became this thing because he started asking everyone about you.”

“You guys were telling Jongin, a man that’s basically a stranger to me-”

“Not for long,” Sehun interrupted, shutting his mouth after Kyungsoo glared.

“-everything about me? Without my permission?”

“I mean even if we asked, you would’ve said no and we still would’ve done it anyway.” Junmyeon shrugged. Sehun nodded in agreement.

“That’s NOT the POINT. I don’t know anything about him? And he knows everything about me? Is that not weird?” Kyungsoo pinched his nose bridge and sighed.

“Then talk to him for once in your life instead of holing up in the office!” Junmyeon exclaimed.

“It’s not my fault, I need to stay alert for my patients! I would if I had time!” Kyungsoo snapped back.

“You just admitted that you had some interest in him,” Sehun smirked, leaving Kyungsoo dumbfounded.

“As friends, idiot.”

“Just admit you have a small crush on the hot doctor.” Junmyeon raised his eyebrows and slowly walked closer to Kyungsoo. He cringed every time he would call Jongin ‘hot doctor’ or ‘doctor hottie’.

“I need to know him better to start liking him.” Kyungsoo pushed him away.

Sehun got up to stretch and looked at the time. “As much as I would love to stay, I need to go and help out with the next surgery.”

“You two better watch your backs.” Kyungsoo walked over to his desk and opened his laptop. He received an email titled, “URGENT”. He reluctantly opened the email.

“Well if Junmyeon happens to disappear one day, I’ll look the other way for you Soo!” Sehun laughed.

“Hey! Whose boyfriend are you? His or Mine!” He whined and chased after him.

Kyungsoo smiled but it quickly disappeared. He ran out of his office. He never thought he would see something like that, he never wanted to. It was the medical record for Sohyun, Eunbi’s baby.

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is unedited and also i realized that there's a lot of terminology and surgical procedures that people don't know,,,
> 
> shunt: a hollow tube that acts as a passage flowing from one part of the body to another  
bypass: a surgically created shunt  
graft: transplanted/prosthetic blood vessel  
dura mater: outermost layer of the brain  
doppler: a test that uses high frequency sound waves to measure the amount of blood flow through your arteries and veins  
bulldog clamp: used for temporary occlusion of vascular structures  
bipolar: type of instrument used in electrosurgery  
pseudoaneurysm: also known as false aneurysm; occurs when a blood vessel is injured and the blood is contained by the surrounding tissues. 
> 
> (1) so when jongin says "harvesting the radial artery", he's removing he healthy blood vessels from another part of the body to create a bypass.
> 
> (2) when chanyeol says "releasing the clamp", he's checking the patency of the bypass, in other words, how open the bypass is. 
> 
> tbh i'm learning more by writing this fanfic than going to college LMAO


End file.
